Freight futures contracts listed in Shanghai continued to decline. Trading volume remains steady but low, while open interest continues to rise. The main news concerns ONE reducing its quotation for shipments by $200 to $2,143 per FEU, and Hapag Lloyd lowering its rate for shipments departing in the last week of September by $200 to $1,835 per FEU.
Freight futures contracts in Shanghai experienced a sharper decline today compared to the average movements of the past two months, as traders showed increased conviction. The drop remains primarily driven by short sellers, while some buyers who believe the market is nearing a bottom continue to step in. As a result, both short and long positions attracted fresh capital, leading to a rise in open interest.
MSC will launch a revised USA-West Africa-South Africa Express (USWASA Express), service from 1 October 2025, with the addition of new calls at West Africa to replace its current USA to South Africa service that it jointly operates with Maersk. The USWASA will call at New York, Baltimore, Savannah, Freeport, Lome, Durban, Coega, Cape Town, San Pedro, New York with an additional call at Philadelphia to added on a seasonal basis. The service will turn in 9 weeks and will deploy 9 ships of 2,500
Freight futures contract prices continued to decline in response to the liners’ latest pricing actions. The primary selling pressure emerged in the afternoon, with most contracts closing near their intraday lows. Liquidity fell further to 25,424 contracts—the lowest level since April 2024. Open interest edged up slightly.
The idle containership fleet has crept above 125,000 teu for the first time in 15 months, due to the removal of 12 ships linked to Iranian interests that have left the SeaLead fleet over the past 3 weeks. 4 of these ships are heading to Khor Fakkan, while the remaining ships are waiting for orders at Chinese and Malaysian anchorages after completing cargo discharge in China and Port Klang. 4 more ships are due to be redelivered by SeaLead in the coming week, with no immediate replacements to fil
Only 12 containerships with a total capacity of 8,465 teu have been scrapped so far this year, with a further 6 ships lost at sea or converted to other usage. However, there are numerous candidates for removal from service, which in our view are older vessels facing substantial capital expenditure. Currently, 52 ships totaling 98,882 TEU are over 25 years old and due for special survey. Notwithstanding the low level of vessel deletions recorded so far this year, a larger challenge lies ahead a
Asia-Europe freight rates have seen bigger slides in the past week with space constraints easing as peak season demand have passed. The port congestion in North Europe that has provided some rate supposed has also improved slightly with yard utilization starting to trend down from critical levels in Antwerp and at some of the terminals in Rotterdam. However, Med port congestion remains high especially at Valencia and Genoa. The Turkish ban on Israeli ships has affected Zim’s Med service, which
EC2512 continued to attract short selling throughout the day. For all EC contracts, a total of 34,224 contracts changed hands, marking one of the lighter trading sessions in terms of daily volume. Open interest rose by 1% to 79,739 contracts. For 1 September shipments, CMA CGM reduced its quoted rate from $2,420 to $2,200 per FEU, while Maersk listed $1,900 per FEU for cargo departing in the second week of September.
Register Free Trial Spot freight rates continued to slip for the 11th consecutive week, with prospects for a September rate rebound vanishing quickly as carriers continue to resist capacity cuts to match the drop in demand. Cargo booking volumes have fallen by between 5% to 20% in the last 2 weeks with the Transpacific, Asia-Europe and Latin America routes under heavy pressure. The withdrawal of 11 US sanctioned ships has lifted the idle fleet to a 15 month high, but this has not eased the tig
Freight futures extended their decline for a second consecutive day as CMA CGM and Evergreen made substantial cuts to their FAK rate quotations for sailings over the next two weeks, while Hapag-Lloyd lowered its August quotation to below $2,000 per FEU. Trading volumes remain thin, although open interest increased by 1,148 lots to reach 80,688 lots. EC2510, the benchmark contract, is approaching the 1,300 resistance level. The SCFI-Europe index, released after market close, fell 8.35% to $1,668